New Mexico is in a health care crisis with nearly 25 percent of its residents lacking health insurance, but prison inmates get 100 percent taxpayer-funded health care.

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A day in the life for the Ruiz family means putting on a happy face for the children, while inside mom and dad are worried.

"My wife and I currently do not have insurance," Roberto Ruiz said.

Ruiz's two disabled children are covered by Medicaid, but he dreads the day he'll need to go to the hospital for another bout of crippling kidney stones. He's been there before.

"It's just -- you lose everything! My credit's shot. I have no credit whatsoever because I have like $70,000 in medical bills I just can't afford to pay," Ruiz said.

While Ruiz cannot afford his own insurance, he is helping pay for the health care of about 6,100 convicted criminals in the New Mexico state prison system.

"We are responsible for the comprehensive health care of every one of them, from when they come in until the day they leave," Dr. Stephen Vaughn, with the state's Corrections Department, said.

Vaughn is the prison system's chief medical administrator. He said the U.S. Constitution mandates that the state provide medical care for those incarcerated.

"It doesn't matter what (they did.) We take care of them. We can't say stop, and we don't," Vaughn said. "The state pays for it."

The constitution-mandated care doesn't come cheap. Last year, the state spent nearly $45 million treating inmates. That's almost 20 percent of what the state spends on public schools each year.

Inmates receive treatment on nearly everything from the common cold to cancer.

"We have people here in this facility who've had terrible medical problems," Vaughn said.

Vaughn said New Mexico costs are comparable to, if not better than, other states. The taxpayers' $45 million covers prescription medication and treatment for almost every medical condition save for big procedures like heart transplants.

Barbara Webber heads Health Action New Mexico, a non-profit focusing on the uninsured. While the state's costs don't surprise her, she said it paints a dire picture of health care in the state.

"You shouldn't have to go to prison to get the health care that you really need," Webber said.

Ruiz said he understands that prisoners have a right to health care, but he was recently turned down by Medicaid because his $14,000 per year salary was too much to qualify.

"Because of that, I'm punished. I go out there and commit a felony, I get the best health care money can buy," Ruiz said.

Taxpayers also shell out millions of additional dollars a year to take care of prison mental health issues and pay for administrative costs.